I am a sucker for a good fairy tale. As a kid, I would sit for hours under a tree, reading stories by Hans Christian Anderson, and the Brothers Grimm, getting lost in the magic and occasionally frightened by the horror in the tales they spun. Getting older did nothing to dampen my fascination with the genre and I still enjoy curling up with a good cautionary tale of greed, vanity, and the ever-popular Evil Stepmother. Imagine my delight when I discovered that a fairy godmother in the form of Painted Goat Farm had created a cheesy fable of goodness called Cinderella.
Painted Goat Farm’s story reads like a modern fable. It starts with a young boy and girl named Javier Flores and Ilyssa Berg who live in a small cottage in the foothills of New York’s northern Catskill Mountains. The couple decided to build a cheesemaking house with a milking parlor for their herd of Alpine and Nubian goats and a man-made cheese cave for aging their pasteurized and raw milk cheeses. While the cheese came to life twelve feet below, the goats were free to roam over one hundred acres of land, eating fresh grasses.

The name Cinderella fits this slightly aged chevre log to a tee. A fair maiden covered in ash made of hand-ground cherry wood charcoal creates the bloomy rind. Beneath this layer lies the Cinderella’s true beauty. A creamy ring of buttery goodness surrounds the dense center of earthy lightness.

Pair Cinderella with some fresh berries, a glass of champagne or sparkling wine and it’s ready for the ball. The only villain in this fairy tale is availability and like all good things, this cheese will come to a seasonal end.

The House Mouse

I was such a picky eater as a kid, my mother called me her House Mouse because cheese was the only thing she knew she could get me to eat without my throwing a argument. Although I have since broadened my palate (finally eating my first strawberry at the ripe old age of 32) I still delight in the discovery of fantastic, funky and flavorful fromage. Stay Cheesy!